The certified pre-owned market is on pace for yet another record year. In fact, the last three months represented the second-strongest quarter for CPO sales ever, according to Autodata Corp. 

And that’s certainly good news for franchised dealers. But the benefits, apparently, go beyond retail.

Discussing the record year expected for CPO in his latest video report (which can be seen in the window above), ADESA’s Tom Kontos said: “That’s been driving a lot of strong demand in the auction lanes and online in the wholesale channel.”

Demand for CPO vehicles was also one of the factors helping mitigate the downward pricing pressure from increased supply in the wholesale market, Kontos said.

Of course, there have been “signs of softness” in wholesale prices — for example, August showed the first drop in overall auction prices this year — and those signs are likely to continue, he said.